The noncollinear spin-spiral density wave of the uniform electron gas is studied in the framework of reduced-density-matrix-functional theory. For the Hartree-Fock approximation, which can be obtained as a limiting case of reduced-density-matrix functional theory, Overhauser showed a long-time ago that the paramagnetic state of the electron gas is unstable with respect to the formation of charge- or spin-density waves. Here we not only present a detailed numerical investigation of the spin-spiral density wave in the Hartree-Fock approximation but also investigate the effects of correlations on the spin-spiral density wave instability by means of a recently proposed density-matrix functional.